This dissertation examines the fascist propaganda for children produced in Hitler’s Germany and the early years of Franco’s Spain. The central aim of this project is to identify the formation of fascist discourse and its construction of political “reality” (or what Kaja Silverman calls a “dominant fiction”) by German and Spanish propagandistic authors. I will also determine the extent to which the fascist thought formed in the works I am studying depends on the national context in which it appears. The fascist children’s literature produced in Germany and Spain provides a body of writing that will allow me to answer if there are literary elements specific to the historical moment and national context in which they were produced, or if fascist writing is the same from one country to the next. For the German context, I will begin by examining works written for children during the Weimar Republic (1918-1933). By placing works from Erich Kästner and Wolf Durian into a historical context, I read these books as cultural artifacts that express the views of their authors and reflect those of many democratic supporters of the Republic. Beginning with the first Nazi novels for children and youth that appeared in 1932, I proceed to trace the elements National Socialist authors chose to retain from their left-wing Weimar counterparts, and then put forth a model that explains the influence fascism had on children’s literature in Germany during this time. Once this model is established, I will compare and contrast this body of German writing with the children’s literature produced in Spain between 1939 and 1943, the immediate post-Civil War period, a time-frame that most historians view as the moment when fascist ideology flourished under the emerging Franquist regime. Taking the fascist children’s periodical Flechas y Pelayos (Arrows and Pelayos) as a case in point, I demonstrate the ways in which Franco’s government sought to nationalize the family unit in order to place the children of Spain in the service of the new regime. Finally, I conclude the project by synthesizing my findings of both fascist contexts as they pertain to the creation of “realities” in children’s literature and the subsequent formation of the role of the state.

This introduction serves to provide a sketch of the circumstances that led to the prominence of "nativist," or xiangtu literature from the Republic of China (i.e. Taiwan) in the late twentieth century. Huang Chunming, the author of the stories featured in this thesis, has been a prolific writer from the east of the Taiwan Straits since 1962, and has contributed to the popularization of Taiwanese xiangtu literature in the decades of the island's industrialization experience. In Huang's world of fictional characters, readers have multifaceted records of the Taiwanese people's lives and the culture of their native soil.

This dissertation has examined the narrative genre of tanci in late imperial China while keeping a close eye on the theme of women's self-empowerment. I have analyzed three voluminous tanci works, Destiny of Rebirth; Dream, Image, Destiny; and A Histoire of Heroic Women and Men, respectively published in the 18th, 19th and early 20th century. I have proposed that these tanci works, by depicting women's crossdressing, self-portraits, and homoerotic sensitivities, presented a transgressive potential to disrupt dominant social and cultural discourses of womanhood in late imperial China. Particularly, tanci works present women who leave their cloistered lives and travel while crossdressed as men. These women are the very opposite of the Confucian feminine ideal (the filial, chaste, and obedient woman who follows the prescribed codes required of a daughter, wife, and widow). Writing such challenging stories was itself a transgressive act for late imperial women authors, whose literary practices were under strict social regulation in the patriarchal society. For women readers of the time and for those of the contemporary period, reading these stories was and is an empowering experience. By identifying with the heroic protagonists, historical and contemporary readers alike may be inspired to envision a life of autonomy and freedom outside the domestic space. Tanci works, I propose, validate women in their immediate historical and cultural landscapes and project rich possibilities for women to reform social reality. The historical task of contemporary readers of tanci is therefore three-fold: to retrieve the voices of earlier authors from obscurity, to empower themselves with the help of these voices, and to integrate the predecessors' insights into a vision of new possibilities of social change.

In my dissertation, I argue that the medical milieu of the 13th century contributed to shape vernacular secular culture. I demonstrate how the historical and scientific contexts of the Italian peninsula, from the Sicilian school of Frederick II and Manfred to the communal realities of Bologna and Florence, testify to the active reception of the works of Aristotle, Galen, and their Arabic and Western commentators in poetic circles. I show how the Italian 13th century was informed by a high degree of intellectual and scientific knowledge, and how the far-reaching penetration of medical sources connects an emerging vernacular culture to the intricacy of urban networks. "Of Poets and Physicians" addresses the following questions: what is the contribution of medical literature to Italian poetry of the 13th century? How can the reception of Aristotelian and Galenic physiological theories help us illuminate the way Medieval literature produced its tropes? Why should we consider these cultural and intellectual environments as productive frames of thought for poetical writings? My dissertation addresses these questions in three macro-chapters. In the first chapter (On Fluid Memory), I argue that under the patronage and influence of Frederick II and Manfred, the reception of Aristotle’s physiology of the soul informed the tropes of the memory image of the lady engraved into the heart, used by Giacomo da Lentini and the other vernacular poets at court. In the second chapter (Minding the Brain), I study the influence of Galen and Arabic Galenism on the intellectual circles of the second half of the 13th century. I argue that the influence of the Bolognese Galenism of Taddeo Alderotti informed a great part of Guinizzelli’s poetry, not only with respect to the phenomenology of love, but also in his views on nobility and natural determinism. In the third chapter (All Things Natural), I combine the Aristotelian discourse on ethics and the Galenic question of temperamental determinism. I analyze how the scientific background on the relationship between bodily balance and the functions of the soul is discussed in Taddeo Alderotti’s translation of an epitome of Aristotelian ethics, and how these debates are reframed in the poetry of Guido Cavalcanti, Dante Alighieri, and Cino da Pistoia, by virtue of the relationship between love and reason. While contextualizing the uses of medical thought in the poetical production of philosophical and poetic authors, I demonstrate how the active reception of scientific theories testifies to the high degree and pervasiveness of medical education in the intellectual circles of the 13th century.

Orientador: Maria Celeste Tommasello Ramos / Banca: Adriana Lins Precioso / Banca: Cátia Inês Negrão Berlini de Andrade / Banca: Leandro Passos / Banca: Lúcia Granja / Resumo: O presente estudo propõe uma análise comparatista das obras Vidas secas (1938), de Graciliano Ramos e Conversazione in Sicilia (1941), de Elio Vittorini, a partir de um olhar interpretativo de como a Literatura pode desempenhar, por meio da viagem, nos respectivos romances, um papel de denúncia e resistência. A ênfase está na análise dos pontos convergentes e divergentes utilizados pelos autores na veiculação de suas narrativas sem, contudo, deixar de verificar a relação temática construída pelos sujeitos e o mundo representados, seja no contexto italiano, seja no brasileiro. Dessa forma, tal relação é marcada pelo costume de vida simples em um local árido e subdesenvolvido, que caracteriza os espaços descritos: o sertão nordestino brasileiro e o sul da península itálica, de modo que seus autores apontam particularidades culturais, econômicas, sociais e políticas que são peculiares aos espaços retratados, mas que podem se tocar apesar da distância geográfica, principalmente no percurso de homens esquecidos e massacrados pelas autoridades dominantes. Para guiar nossas reflexões, baseamo-nos principalmente nos estudos de Candido (1976, 1989, 1992 e 2009), Bosi (1995, 1996, 2002, 2003 e 2013), Carvalhal (2006), Rosenfeld (1985 e 2009), Gagnebin (2006), Panicali (1994), Squarotti (1987) e Facioli (1987), entre outros, com o objetivo de compreender como essas duas vozes, entre as décadas de 1930 e 1940, fizeram soar em seus textos questões com resíduos e rastros homólogos em... / Abstarct: The present study proposes a comparative analysis of Gracialiano Ramos' Vidas secas (1938) and Elio Vittorini's Conversazione in Sicilia (1941), from an interpretative perspective of how Literature, through travel, can play a role of denunciation and resistance. The emphasis is on the analysis of the convergent and divergent points used by the authors in their narratives and the verification of the thematic relationship constructed by the subjects and the world represented, whether in the Italian or in the Brazilian contexts. Thus, this relationship is marked by the simple habit of living in an arid and underdeveloped place that characterizes the spaces described: the Brazilian Northeastern backlands and the south of the Italian peninsula, so that their authors point out cultural, economic, social and political particularities from the spaces portrayed, but which can be approximated in spite of the geographic distance, especially in the path of men forgotten and massacred by the dominant authorities. In order to guide our reflections, we are mainly based on the studies of Candido (1976, 1989, 1992 e 2009), Bosi (1995, 1996, 2002, 2003 e 2013), Carvalhal (2006), Rosenfeld (1985 e 2009), Gagnebin (2006), Panicali (1994), Squarotti (1987) and Facioli (1987), among others, in order to understand how these two voices during the 1930s and 1940s expressed issues with homologous residues and traces in many moments, such as the walk, from Silvestro to and through his native land, and the trip of Fabiano with his family through the sertão, looking for a better place to live. The displacements shown in those travels portray both denunciation and resistance in oppresive societies / Riassunto: Questo studio propone un'analisi comparativa delle opere Vidas secas (1938), di Graciliano Ramos e Conversazione in Sicilia (1941), di Elio Vittorini, che propone uno sguardo interpretativo di come la Letteratura può manifestare, attraverso il viaggio, nei romanzi studiati, un ruolo di denuncia e resistenza. L'enfasi è posta sull'analisi dei punti convergenti e divergenti utilizzati dagli autori nella trasmissione delle loro narrative senza, tuttavia, smettere di controllare la relazione tematica costruita dai soggetti e dal mondo rappresentato, sia nel contesto italiano che nel brasiliano. Così, un tale rapporto è segnato dalla semplice abitudine di vita in un luogo arido e non sviluppato, che caratterizza gli spazi descritti: il secco nordest brasiliano e l'arido sud della penisola italiana, in modo che i loro autori sottolineano particolarità culturali, economiche, sociali e politiche che sono peculiari degli spazi ritratti, ma che sono simile nonostante la distanza geografica, specialmente nella vita degli uomini dimenticati e massacrati dalle autorità dominanti. Per guidare le nostre riflessioni, ci basiamo principalmente sugli studi di Candido (1976, 1989, 1992 e 2009), Bosi (1995, 1996, 2002, 2003 e 2013), Carvalhal (2006), Rosenfeld (1985 e 2009), Gagnebin (2006), Panicali (1994), Squarotti (1987) e Facioli (1987), tra altri studiosi, allo scopo di comprendere come queste due voci, tra gli anni 1930 e 1940, hanno rappresentato nei suoi testi problemi con residui e tracce simili in molti momenti, come il viaggio di Silvestro verso e attraverso la regione in cui è nato e il viaggio di Fabiano con sua famiglia attraverso il sertão brasiliano, alla ricerca di un posto migliore. Dal nostro punto di vista, lo spostamento rappresentato in questi viaggi può rappresentare la denuncia di società oppressive e, allo stesso tempo, simboleggia la resistenza / Doutor

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This dissertation examines the innovative subjectivity of feminine voices constructed in poetry by three women writers from seventeenth- and early nineteenth-century China: Li Yin, Wang Duanshu, and Wang Duan. Drawing primarily on their individual collections, I argue that the writers fashion poetic selves that deviate from literati representations of feminine subjectivity through the writers' intertextual dialogues with mainstream literary and cultural traditions and also their poetic exchanges with contemporary women writers. I explore specific methods employed by the three writers to create distinctive voices of their own and specify modes that distinguish the alternative feminine voices in their writings, contextualizing my reading of poems from their collected works and of mise-en-scenes in the case of exchange poetry. My close reading of the three late imperial Chinese writers' poetry reveals that subject positions in their collected works, different from those of feminine voices constructed in literati poetry, are the result of the gendered writing self seeking voices to express lived experiences, deeply felt emotions, desires, anxieties, and pleasures. These positions in turn allow the writing self to have serious intellectual exchanges with their contemporary writers, create self-definitions beyond the normative roles as prescribed by the Confucian gender system and the literati poetic tradition, and realize personal transformation in poetry.

Ananda Devi [1957 - ], a French-language author and poet from Mauritius, adds depth to the lyricism already inherent in her writing by drawing upon that country's multicultural heritage, which includes African, Hindu, and French, and its Creole language. Le Long Désir (2003) defies genre, being neither strictly poetry nor prose, and presents more a collection of prose poems than a structured story with a tangible plot. The poetic aspect of her text, accomplished through this Creole as well as experimentation with grammatical structures and the display of the text on the page, inclines me as a translator to prioritize the lyricism of her text over its content, though cer-tainly I have endeavored to bring both into my English translation of selected sections of the book. Its unifying theme of the struggle of women with violence, anguish and self-definition is brought to the fore by running motifs of animalistic behavior, putrefaction, and darkness, which are accompanied by equally vivid instances of fragility and beauty, signaling the plurality of the situation of women. The challenges of translating the Creole, of preserving her imagery's fresh-ness as well as the content's poignancy, and other myriad deliberations make the labor of produc-ing The Long Desire, the English translation, that much more rewarding; for it is well worth bringing a glimpse of life as a Mauritienne to an English-speaking audience, if not for the noble purpose of increasing our awareness of the world, then at least to taste the enchanting complexity of the text itself.

This paper examines similarities between imagery of the countryside and the “country life” in both the poetry of Augustan Rome and contemporary American country music. It analyzes the themes of agriculture, poverty, family, and piety, and how they are used in both sets of sources to create an idealized countryside. This ideal, when contrasted with negative portrayals of urban life and non-idealized rural life, endorses an ideology that is opposed to wealth and that emphasizes the security and stability of the idyllic countryside. This ideology common to both may stem from the historical contexts of these two eras, revealing that Augustan Rome and modern America have unexpected similarities.